


400 and counting

by enkelimagnus



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Asmodeus - Freeform, Buffy Fairchild, Future Fic, Gifts, Immortal Alec Lightwood, Immortal Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Magnus is 400, Mary Magdalene - Freeform, Mention of Jace/OFC, Multi, Petya, Post-Canon, Set 20 years in the future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 06:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16907901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enkelimagnus/pseuds/enkelimagnus
Summary: Magnus and Alec Lightwood-Bane host Magnus' 400th birthday party, in the year 2037. Lovely people, dancing, and some surprising gifts are on the menu.





	400 and counting

Nothing in the last century could have prepared Magnus Bane for knowing what his 400th birthday would be like. There had been around 80 years of pure absolute nothingness, and then suddenly, 20 years of love and family. His mind was still unable to wrap itself around exactly how much his life had changed recently. 

If one moment could be the metaphor for how full his life currently was, it was the scene unfolding before him, as he leaned against the door to the kitchen, slowly fading into the background of happiness. 

He had added a couple of couches to his usual decor, as to comfortably fit the amount of people that had gathered for his birthday party. It was a rather intimate soirée, some good food, alcohol and drinks, as well as laughter and music. Relatively informal, relatively him. 

He was still a party-goer. This birthday was not to be celebrated too loudly. Few in the Shadow World actually knew of his real age, and most of the people who did were currently gathered in the living room of his loft. On the black leather couch, dignified as ever, Maryse Lightwood and Luke Garroway were sitting. 

The last twenty years had been good to them. Their relationship had blossomed into something that kept them warm and happy, and Maryse was looking around at the people around her with the satisfied smile of someone that believed her job had been well done. A similar pride graced Luke’s features. He’d given the role of Alpha of the New York Pack to Maia almost two decades ago, and he was retired from the NYPD now. 

Next to them were Dot and Catarina. They looked exactly the same as they had for the last couple of centuries. Catarina saw Magnus staring at her and raised an eyebrow at him, beckoning him to join the group. He waved back for a second. She knew he just wanted to take everything in. 

Across from them, Madzie sat on the blue chair. As she was approaching her mid twenties, nearly every immortal in her life believed that she would stop aging quite soon. Some research with Mary Magdalene had revealed that warlocks with Madzie’s mark usually tended to stop aging in their early to mid-twenties. She’d grown into a sarcastic, smart young woman, who spent way too much time reading the books Magnus regularly gifted to her regarding magical theory and power study. There was a bet going on about when she would tell her moms that she wanted to go and study at the Spiral Labyrinth. 

She was engrossed in conversation with Raphael, debating some theological points in a passionate debate that Magnus had tuned out of half an hour ago. 

With their back to the window, on one of the big couches Magnus had summoned for the event, were Clary, Izzy, Simon, Maia and Jace. Magnus had no idea why they had all decided to stick together in such a way, but Maia was now sitting on Simon’s lap in a relaxed position that denoted a great amount of habit. Clary and Izzy had decided to sit next to them. 

Clary was one of these white women that started greying relatively early. She was 38, and her red hair were streaked with white and grey. She was currently sitting on the floor, chatting with her and Izzy’s teenage daughter, Buffy. They’d adopted the young blonde Shadowhunter a decade or so ago. 

Izzy was chatting with Simon and Maia, looking regal as ever, occasionally stealing tender glances at her wife and child. 

Jace was currently on the balcony, on the phone with his current partner. He looked quite older than most people his age in the room, but he was a white man, and white men aged poorly, if you asked Magnus. He looked healthy though, happy and successful. 

There were two other teenagers, who had elected to sit on the floor as well. It left the other big couch to Alec and Magnus alone. 

Magnus could only see Alec’s back as he busied himself over the bar, making more drinks for their family. They’d been married for a decade, their ten-year anniversary coming up in a couple of months. Alec had been immortal for that long as well. 

They’d both decided he should wait until his thirties to become immortal, if he still wanted to, simply so they would both match in appearance enough for people not to ask too many questions. 

Of course, Alec had been the first of Magnus’ new extended family to know what this birthday meant to Magnus. A lot of people thought he was much older than he really was, and Alec kinda still was one of those. Magnus was older in spirit than he was in age, pain had marked his soul with some heaviness during the centuries. But Alec was young, and wilder every day, more eager than ever to see and experience and feel the world the way Magnus and other immortals did. 

Magnus watched as his husband walked around the room with cocktails, before standing in front of him, a smile on his face. 

“Well aren’t you being coy tonight?” He asked, and Magnus smiled back at him, letting him wrap an arm around his waist to pull him closer. “Admiring your kingdom, Mr Bane?” 

“Revelling in the accomplished, I’d say,” Magnus replied, leaning against Alec comfortably. Eventually, they would all have to leave to the restaurant, where Alec had booked a table and paid in advance, months ago. Magnus almost felt like blowing off the amazing dinner, that he would without doubt enjoy, and just stay home with his family.

“What a home we have,” Alec whispered, maybe even without really thinking about it. 

Magnus nodded in agreement. 

Warm, comfortable and loud with laughter, that was what a home was supposed to be like. 

Jace came back from the balcony to ask Buffy for a dance. Dot clicked her fingers and Magnus’ old record player started blasting some songs from the 60s. 

Magnus watched the man and his niece, sighing softly. Alec and him had thought about children too, and eventually they would have them, but both of them were content to wait. They were young. 

“Come on,” Alec said, pulling the drink out of Magnus’ hand.

Alec then took Magnus’ hand to pull him further into the room for a dance. 

Magnus rolled his eyes, but didn’t refuse. Dancing was good. Dancing with Alec was perfect. He laughed when Alec - still slightly clumsily - spinned him around. He grinned as the man he loved more than anyone else on this planet managed to catch him before he hit the wall, and pulled him back in his embrace. 

They danced for a song, and then for a few others, and other couples sometimes joined them. Magnus changed partners a couple of times, before he went back to Alec, and they went back to the couch. 

Maryse checked her watch, and exchanged a look with her son, they would have to leave for the restaurant soon.

“Present time!” Maia announced, and a pile of colorfully-wrapped presents came flying from the bedroom wrapped in Madzie’s magic. They landed on the table right in front of Magnus. 

On the top of the pile was a rather small box, black, wrapped with a dark red ribbon. Inside it was a ring, an old delicate thing that would fit him perfectly, and a note, signed from Clary, Izzy, and Buffy. He slipped it on his finger. It was indeed perfect for him, and it would be perfect to have for certain of his outfits. Twenty years had taught the girls what his tastes were in a way he hadn’t really realized. 

From Simon, Maia and Jace, he got a long, jewel-encrusted dagger, salvaged from its extended stay in the vaults of the Lightwood Estate. It would join the collection of knives that Magnus already had in his London townhouse. 

Luke and Maryse had gotten him a few bottles of one of his favorite whiskeys, as well as some of his favorite wine. People after his own heart, it seemed. He would open the whiskey and the wine for them to taste as well, on one of the nights that they came for dinner. 

From Dot, Catarina and Madzie, he got some tickets for a Queen revival concert he’d seen maybe a million times before but still enjoyed more than he could imagine. They all knew of his short-lived passion with Freddie. 

Raphael got him a notebook. It was bound in leather, metal sunken into its corners, engraved with his initials and the paper felt like silk under his fingers. 

Once he’d been through the couple of presents from old friends that weren’t there, he arrived to the remaining four boxes. One was small, almost like the one from the ring he’d gotten from the Fairchild girls, one wrapped in what seemed like craft paper, one in a wooden box covered in runes, and one in a velvet bag. 

He reached for the velvet first. It was a book. An amazingly old book, imbued with a magic that he could feel by touching it. It wasn’t as strong a magic as the one that had been wafting off of the wooden box since it’d appeared in the loft, but it was strong. Strong magic and old books, this one could only be from Mary Magdalene. 

It was written in old latin, with golden letters marking every page. It seemed to be an old grimoire, and Magnus wondered whether or not Mary Magdalene had found it or stolen it from the Vatican. Not that he minded getting his favorite Saint to do some more dirty work sometimes. He would send her a fire message in the morning, or pay her a visit some time soon to thank her for the book. 

He took the one wrapped in paper next, and didn’t need to think very deeply about who it was from when he opened it to find a beautiful necklace resting inside a handkerchief. Petya. His old Russian vampire partner in crime. The necklace was beautiful for sure, but knowing the man there were probably a curse or five in the jewel. 

He put it down, smiling still. He didn’t think Petya would remember his birthday. He rarely sent gifts that didn’t require some sort of strenuous payment from Magnus. 

The two boxes in front of him were so different now that he almost instinctively knew who had sent them in. The wooden one felt like Edom, wrapped in demonic magic and power and he hoped his father would have made an appropriate choice for this one. The other was simple, black and elegant, and he knew it was Alec’s by the design alone. 

He reached for the demonic box and took a deep breath. “I apologize for this,” he warned, before setting up a barrier between him and the box and his guests.

His fingers reached to open the metal latch, swinging the top of the box open. Magnus sucked in a deep breath. Inside of the box was a doll. A simple, straw doll, with faded colors. Magnus recognized it in a heartbeat.

It was his. He’d grown up with that doll. He’d played with it for hours as a child, and he’d taken it with him to Edom when Asmodeus had found him. And now it was… there. Magnus didn’t think Asmodeus still had it. The sentimentalism of the demon made him slightly wary. 

He reached to take the object out of the box. His fingers were too big now. The last time he’d held it was centuries ago, when his body was still aging. When he was a child. He traced the lopsided smile on the doll’s face for a second. It had soaked up the demonic energy of his father. 

Magnus had forgotten the people around him, that were starting to ask him questions. He placed the doll back in the box gently, and closed it, before dissipating the protection. 

“Just a souvenir,” he said, exchanging a look with Alec that meant they would talk about it later. 

He reached for his cup of champagne and took a swing. Asmodeus had never given him a gift before, it wasn’t how the demon worked. Did the sudden appearance of it make him a bit uncomfortable? Definitely. Magnus drank the full cup, turning to the last gift. Alec’s. 

He undid the ribbon around the box. It looked like a ring box, but Alec and him were already married, and he’d already gotten a ring from the Fairchild girls. He doubted Alec would have wanted to offer a ring at the same occasion as his sister. 

It wasn’t a ring, he realized when he opened the box. Not a finger ring for sure, a keyring, with the key to a car… an old, expensive car. His eyes opened wide and Alec grinned. “Happy birthday, babe.” 

“You’re stupid, this is too much.” 

“Listen, you’re 400 years old, and you’ve been talking about wanting to road trip in a vintage convertible for years, so, I allowed myself.” Alec shrugged, taking a sip of champagne. 

Magnus rolled his eyes and pulled him in to kiss him softly before turning to the rest of them. “Thank you for all of this. I don’t deserve it.” 

“Are you kidding?” Izzy laughed, and the shaking of head of most of the guests made something warm bloom in Magnus’ chest. “You’re worth way more than everything on this table, but we wouldn’t be able to afford something that has the same value as you.” 

“I’m glad you were all here tonight for this,” Magnus added, raising his glass, and the rest of them followed. 

“We’re glad to have you in our lives,” Maryse added. “And it’s not every day we’re invited to a 400th birthday party.” 

Many more signs of love and gratitude were exchanged before the party ended. 

As the chatter died down, everyone stood up and started putting on the layers that would keep them from dying from frost bite outside of the apartment. 

Not that the layers would be needed for long.

Magnus created a portal that took them all a couple of streets away from the restaurant. With the sounds of laughter and love, they walked the rest of the way to the restaurant where the evening would continue to flourish.

Alec’s hand was warm around his, and Magnus felt light and full of a happiness he’d rarely experienced in his life. This was where he was meant to be, this was what the last centuries of pain had led to. Love.


End file.
